Beyond the Prescription

You can also check out this episode on Spotify!

When Caitlin Murray’s 5-year-old son Callum was diagnosed with leukemia in 2016, her world turned upside down. She started blogging to keep friends and family informed about his treatment, and what began as a medical missive became an outlet for share about life, love, and parenting.

Callum beat cancer, and Caitlin’s star kept rising. As the main character of the wildly popular Big Time Adulting Instagram page and podcast, Caitlin has captured the hearts of parents everywhere with her raw, relatable, and hilarious commentary about raising kids.

On this episode, Caitlin sits down with Dr. McBride to discuss social media for grown-ups; learning to trust your gut; and the heartbreaking hilariousness of being a parent.

So listen, learn, and laugh with Caitlin. She is living proof that humor is healthy.

Join Dr. McBride every Monday for a new episode of Beyond the Prescription.

You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on her Substack at https://lucymcbride.substack.com/podcast. You can sign up for her free weekly newsletter at lucymcbride.substack.com/welcome.

Please be sure to like, rate, review — and enjoy — the show!

Transcript of the podcast is here!

[00:00:00] Dr. McBride: Hello, and welcome to my office. I'm Dr. Lucy McBride, and this is "Beyond the Prescription," the show where I talk with my guests like I do my patients, pulling the curtain back on what it means to be healthy, redefining health as more than the absence of disease. As a primary care doctor for over 20 years, I've realized that patients are much more than their cholesterol and their weight, that we are the integrated sum of complex parts. Our stories live in our bodies.

[00:00:35] I'm here to help people tell their story, to find out, are they okay, and for you to imagine and potentially get healthier from the inside out. You can subscribe to my weekly newsletter at https://www.lucymcbride.com/ and to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. So, let's get into it and go beyond the prescription.

[00:01:03] There are influencer moms on social media with their perfectly curated family life on display, and then there's my guest today, Caitlin Murray. Caitlin created the wildly popular Big Time Adulting Instagram handle and now has a podcast of the same name. It all started as a way of keeping her friends and family abreast of her son's progress as he was treated for childhood leukemia. And it has grown exponentially over time as an outlet for Caitlin to share her thoughts on, as she puts it, life, love, and parenting.

[00:01:37] Caitlin is arguably the funniest and most relatable mom on the internet. Her content is the refreshing antithesis to the Pinterest-perfect family imagery. Her humor makes her audience of stressed-out parents feel seen and heard. It's her authenticity that has made her wildly successful and someone I really admire. Caitlin, thank you so much for joining me today.

[00:01:59] Caitlin: Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much for having me. I'm super flattered to be here with you because we originally met via the Gram and I reached out to you to be on my podcast. And I found you because I was doing a lot of homework on COVID stuff in terms of the risk analysis of masking children in school, which was really something that I was feeling impassioned by at that time. And I was just so pumped to come across such an accredited doctor who spoke really well from both sides about the reality of the situation. And when you said yes that you would come on my podcast, I was like, "Ooh, I gotta tighten my s**t up right now."

[00:02:45] Dr. McBride: Oh, my God. That's hilarious because when you asked me, I'm like, "Oh, I gotta tighten my s**t up right now."

[00:02:50] Caitlin: So, yeah, b...

Award-winning NPR education reporter Anya Kamenetz saw firsthand the devastating effects of school closures during COVID on children’s learning, mental health and social-emotional well-being.

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It turns out that caring for others carries occupational risk.

Anyone who has ever cared for aging parents, agitated teens, or sick friends has experienced symptoms of emotional and physical depletion. Caregiver burnout is not only common, it affects our health. Just as caregiving bleeds into everyday life, there’s no partition between our body and mind.

On this episode of Beyond the Prescription, Dr. Emily Silverman, physician and host of The Nocturnists podcast, shares her remarkable journey from burned-out physician to advocate for caregiver well-being.

Dr. Silverman approached her medical training with enthusiasm and eagerness, but everything changed when she worked two back-to-back 28-hour shifts and realized how burned out she was.

She began identifying more with her sick patients than her medical colleagues. The “work hard” culture of her residency program seemed to favor showing up at all costs and efficiency over the emotional and physical needs of residents.

Coping with her own health issues as she cared for patients, Dr. Silverman realized that if she was to treat others, she first needed to show herself the same level of care and respect. It was only when she acknowledged her suffering and asked for help that she knew she could authentically care for others.

Dr. Silverman went on to create a successful live show and podcast, The Nocturnists, for the medical community to speak openly about the struggles and triumphs of being a caregiver. There she has given space for others to tell their stories, learn from one another, and model compassion for others and for self.

It turns out that burnout applies not only to doctors but to anyone in a caregiving role.

Join Dr. McBride every Monday for a new episode of Beyond the Prescription. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or at lucymcbride.com/podcast.

Get full access to her free weekly Are You Okay? newsletter at https://lucymcbride.substack.com/welcome

Please be sure to like, rate, review — and enjoy — the show!

Why are expectations about being a woman—specifically a mother—so unrealistic?

Mother, author, and New York Times opinion writer Jessica Grose has a lot to say on this subject. Her latest book, Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood, is inspired by her own shortcomings as a mother. She interviewed hundreds of women as part of the research process while writing the book. In it, Jessica shines a light on the current state of motherhood, and the historical context around the impossible standards for American mothers.

In honor of Mother’s Day, Jessica and I sit down to discuss the narrative and messaging to parents that “they’re doing it wrong.” Jessica urges parents to learn to trust their instincts and to show up to parenting as their authentic, imperfect selves.

Join me every Monday for a new episode of Beyond the Prescription.

You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on her Substack at https://lucymcbride.substack.com/podcast. You can sign up for her free weekly newsletter at lucymcbride.substack.com/welcome.

Please be sure to like, rate, review — and enjoy — the show!

Transcript of the podcast is here!

[00:00:00] Dr. McBride: Hello, and welcome to my office. I’m Dr. Lucy McBride and this is Beyond the Prescription, the show where I talk to my guests like I do my patients, pulling the curtain back on what it means to be healthy, redefining health as more than the absence of disease. As a primary care doctor for more than 20 years, I’ve realized that patients are much more than their cholesterol and their weight, that we are the integrated sum of complex parts. Our stories live in our bodies. I’m here to help people tell their story, to find out, are they okay, and for you to imagine, and potentially get healthier from the inside out.

[00:00:45] You can subscribe to my weekly newsletter at lucymcbride.substack.com and to the show at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. So let’s get into it and go beyond the prescription.

[00:01:01] Dr. McBride: Today I'm interviewing Jessica Grose. She is a mother, she is an author, and she is a New York Times opinion writer who writes a lot about parenting. Her most recent book is called Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood. I was immediately drawn to this book because it was inspired by Jess's own perceived shortcomings as a mother, something I think a lot of us women can relate to. The book combines in-depth interviews with mothers and a historical context on motherhood to help explain why our expectations about being a mom are so unrealistic.

[00:01:37] I think there's a narrative that a lot of us women and mothers absorb that if we only read the right book, if we only had the right parenting expert on speed dial, that we could be the perfect mother when it's not that simple, and frankly, we need to be better able to trust our instincts to know that by showing up, by being a good person and by leading with empathy and curiosity about who our kids are that we are good enough. Jess, I'm thrilled to have you today. Thank you so much for joining me.

[00:02:07] Jess: Thank you for having me. I just wanted to mention, we actually recently dropped the on parenting. I will still talk about parenting. I think my last column was about parenting related issues, but I wanted to have a chance to broaden my aperture a little bit, write about all sorts of issues, mostly cultural, but it's been exciting and I'm really looking forward to this year.

[00:02:30] I mean, an example of that was I just did a big piece about midlife and millennials at midlife. I am one. I am an ancient millennial. I just turned 41.

[00:02:39] Dr. McBride: What's the newsletter called now?

[00:02:41] Jess: It's just my name, just Jessica Grose.

[00:02:43] Dr. McBride: Okay, awesome. How cool is that though, Jessica, that you got to move from being a reporter, which I know you loved to giving your Opinion. I mean, anyone who knows me will tell you that. I love data. I love analysis....

You can also check out this episode on Spotify!

If you’re anything like Dr. McBride or her patients, you want to live a long life. You want to be healthy! Yet when you try to execute on your best intentions—whether it’s cutting back on alcohol, starting an exercise routine, or taming your phone addiction—you end up defaulting to factory settings.

Well, you are not alone.

The pandemic laid bare how wired and tired we are—and how desperate we are to feel better. We scroll endlessly online for wellness advice and health hacks. We grab quick hits of dopamine through sugar, shopping, booze, or whatever gizmo social media is offering up. We are sleepless and irritable and don’t know what’s wrong.

The U.S. medical industrial complex is failing people. The wellness industry is fleecing people. How do we get ourselves “unstuck” when we don’t know what questions to ask or who to trust?

Dr. McBride argues that first, we must first redefine “health” as more than a set of laboratory tests or a single visit to the doctor. To her, health is a process, not an outcome. Health is about having awareness of our medical data, acceptance of the things we cannot control, and agency over the things we can control.

She calls this the “Three As.” She argues that articulating our Three As allows us to more accurately tell our story. An honest reckoning with the Three As can put us back in the driver’s seat of our health.

In this week’s (short!) solo podcast, she explains this in more detail. She defines each “A” and suggests a way to move through this process on your own.

Spoiler alert: getting healthier isn’t particularly sexy. It’s often not very fun. It usually isn’t usually quick, and it never involves a “fix.” In reality, staring down the facts, accepting hard truths, and then challenging our beliefs and our everyday behaviors is arguably the deepest and hardest work we do.

Our stories live in our bodies. What’s yours?

Join Dr. McBride every Monday for a new episode of Beyond the Prescription.

You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on her Substack at https://lucymcbride.substack.com/podcast. You can sign up for her free weekly newsletter at lucymcbride.substack.com/welcome.

Please be sure to like, rate, review — and enjoy — the show!

The full transcript of the show is here!

Dr. McBride: Hello, and welcome to my home office. I'm Dr. Lucy McBride, and this is Beyond the Prescription. Today, it's just you and me. Every other week this season, I'll talk to you like I do my patients, pulling the curtain back on what it means to be healthy, redefining health as a process of self-awareness, acceptance, and agency.

[00:00:28] In clinical practice for over 20 years, I have found that patients generally want the same things. A framework to evaluate their risks, access to the truth and data, and tools and actionable information to be healthy, mentally and physically. We all want to feel more in control of our health. Here, I'll talk to you about how to be a little more okay tomorrow than you are today. Let's go.

[00:00:55] So today it's just you and me. I am pretty excited, because I get to talk to you the way I talk to my patients. Specifically today, we're going to talk about how we might approach the process of getting healthier. If you're anything like me or my patients, you want to live a long life, right? You want to be healthy, you want to feel good, and you probably know that there's some things you could do to be healthier, but you find them hard to do, and you default to factory settings on a day-to-day basis.

[00:01:30] Well, you're not alone. Many of us aspire to get more exercise, to eat better, to get more sleep, to manage stress. In other words, we all want to do what our doctor tells us to do, but when the rubber meets the road, it's actually pretty darn hard. So how do we actually get healthier? How do we mind that gap between our best intentions and the execution part?

[00:01:53] So let's first talk about definitions like, the definition of health. Unfortunately in the US, we kind of think of health as the sum total of our lab tests. If we have normal cholesterol and a normal weight, we're healthy. But hea...